Re: invasion stripes (D-Day identification) on a B-17 of 401st B-17

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                                        <b>Posted:</b><br>
                                        <b>By: </b><a href='mailto:CLMings@aol.com'>Clyde L. Mings</a><br>
                                        <b>On: </b>03/06/2006 <br>
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                                    <td style='vertical-align: top;'>TO Horst- The main reason for putting the stripes on was to prevent another massacre of our own aircraft like happened in Italy during an invasion and airdrop. The theory as I understood it was that the   Allied 4 engine bombers had distinctive outlines and the Luftwaffe were not using 4 engine bombers, so there was not much risk of misidentification. Somewhere I read how many thousands of gallons of black and white paint and thousands of manhours were expended to paint all those aircraft. The medium bombers did get the paint since the Luftwaffe had a lot of 2 engine bombers  that could cause confusion.  The weather on D-Day stank and our  gunners in the ground and air wouldnt have had  time to study outlines before shooting.Luckily, the expected big air battle  never took place, and it was a bit of a milk run compared to other missions.<br></td>
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